If you are a power user, you probably like customizing everything from your browser to your operating system. Ultimate Windows Tweaker is a free app that lets you tweak your Windows installation to make it your very own.

It’s powerful and comes with a lot of features. Let’s see what you can do with Ultimate Windows Tweaker.

Getting Started

Ultimate Windows Tweaker is available in 32-bit and 64-bit versions for both Windows Vista and Windows 7. It was last updated in January of 2011 to support Internet Explorer 9. Getting started with Ultimate Window Tweaker is a breeze.

Download the Ultimate Windows Tweaker zip file and extract its contents. You do not need to install the application, just simply run it. When you launch the app for the first time you’ll be greeted with information about your system.

Make sure to create a restore point before making any changes so you can revert back to your original settings.

System Information in Ultimate Windows Tweaker

Personalization

The first category for customizing your Windows installation is Personalization. Remember to create a restore point before saving changes.

The Personalization screen allows you to select or deselect features for Windows Explorer, the Start Menu and your Taskbar appearance. I immediately disabled the Aero Shake and Aero Peek features because I am not a fan.

Personalization Screen in Ultimate Windows Tweaker

User Accounts & UAC

The  next section lets you customize your login welcome screen, as well as users and User Account Control. You can enable and disable users, require users to press Control+Alt+Delete before logging in, and customize test and button effects on the welcome screen.

You can also change User Account Control settings if you want to raise or lower the security settings.

User Accounts & UAC Screen in Ultimate Windows Tweaker

System Performance

System Performance settings let you change the waiting time to end services and kill applications, as well as enable or disable system performance tweaks. One really neat feature is to automatically end non-responsive applications instead of being asked what you want to do.

These tweaks are where the optimization for Windows really comes in. You can disable services you don’t use to help keep your system running at top speed.

System Performance in Ultimate Windows Tweaker

Security Settings

In the Security Settings, you can change Administrative restrictions, Windows Explorer settings, restrict Windows applications and change Windows Update settings. You can disable features like the Registry Editor, command prompt, task manager, control panel, and much more. You can lock down your Windows installation so users can’t perform these tasks.

Features like this really help if you are trying to lock a computer down for a guest or a child. Ultimate Windows Tweaker can help you increase parental controls to ensure a user doesn’t change system settings.

Security Settings in Ultimate Windows Tweaker

Network Tweaks

Under Network Tweaks, you can hide your server or workstation, hide your entire network neighborhood, and disable remote desktop sharing. You can also set the entire global network/internet to offline.

The bandwidth optimization is very helpful if you need to configure your bandwidth settings for your internet connection. You can either set them manually, or choose low bandwidth for analog and ISDN, or high bandwidth for cable, DSL and satellite internet.

Network Tweaks in Ultimate Windows Tweaker

Internet Explorer

The features I have used the most are the Internet Explorer tweaks. You can customize your Internet Explorer installation by permanently enabling the menu bar, enabling or disabling the suggested sites, private filtering and more.

Ultimate Windows Tweaker also lets you customize Internet Explorer’s tabs. You can change the settings for when a new tab or pop-up is opened, and how other programs open links in Internet Explorer, as well as disable tabbed browsing completely.

There are also some advanced settings for Internet Explorer, like turning off RSS feed discovery, disabling updates, and enabling smooth scrolling.

Internet Explorer Settings in Ultimate Windows Tweaker

Additional Tweaks

The Additional Tweaks section houses all the miscellaneous settings, including context menu customization. You can enable useful context menu items to drives, files and folders, such as “Take Ownership”, “Search…”, “Copy to Folder” and more.

Some of the other tweaks include removing arrows from shortcut icons, removing the “-Shortcut” suffix on new shortcuts, disabling hibernation and the Windows startup sound. You can also customize how Windows handles the NTFS file system, like disabling encryption and compression, and the self-healing capability.

This section also allows you to modify your Windows registration information. You can change the name of the user and organization and add OEM information.

Additional Tweaks Ultimate Windows Tweaker

Final Thoughts

Ultimate Windows Tweaker is a great utility app because it’s free, portable and can customize your Windows installation. The settings at your finger tips allow you to tweak and optimize Windows. It’s available for Windows Vista and Windows 7, 32-bit and 64-bit. The interface is clean, easy to use and understand and fits in perfectly with Windows.

There really isn’t a downside to using this program if you want to tweak and optimize your operating system. Remember to create a restore point before making changes so you can always go back to your previous modifications.